New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1887-05-01
SUPPLEMENT.
PAGES 9 TO 10.
COLUMBIA'S NOBLE RECORD.
prv,rw OF HER WORK BY DR. BARNARD.
n.Rp FACTS AND PRACTICAL SUGGESTIONS FOB ihh
TRUSTEES TO CONSIDER.

TRUSTEES TO CONSIDER.
A, the NAV neeting of the Trustees OF Columbia
College to- morrow, besides the election OF . $4,000
"a fiji the Latin char, the annual report VI
". ~. IN he received AS usual the report is an
exhaustive review of the work done opriog 'no IVY
epe year in the several departments win ma"y FL
tjcal sue gestons on various points, espeoiay oH 'no
9markin svsteman used In this aud In otber Colleges
,s - brilding where public lectures may
~ ia ,bs extension OF the library building, In
trroto, IN the graduate department and the elective
s,en Reference made to the loss incurred py 'ne
death OF Professor Short last December. the appoint
,neots made in the several faculties are enumerated
and tabuated report of the attendance IN the dln-
erent schools is given.
In the professional schools most not al tue states
and Territories OF the Union are represented Win .
sprinkling from foreign countries The undergrad
yates in tho School OF Arts are mostly oerNeo Hom
this city or its vicinity The average graduating age
of the present senior class will be Il 80 years After
giving the statements of scholarship in the several
classes during the year, Dr. Barnard says that they
derive their Significance from the hypothesis that II is
possible to express numerically the relative vaue OF
the scholastic performances OF different individuals,
so as TO exhibit their comparative merit. 10 THIS
hypothesis many very decidedly object Tor reasons
which are not without plausibilty.
No quantity it is affirmed, can be mathematicaliy
measured of which the measuring unit Is incapable
of definition But the value of scholastic perform
anoe is purely ideal quantity, the magnitude OF
which depends upon the imagination or the Judgment
of the examiner critic and which Is almost certain
to be differently estimated by different ndividua!s
An analysis of the marking system pursued In the col
lege follows with the explanation that when 1t comes
TO the valuation of sixtenths eighttenths OF per-
tecon it is evident that there is large room ior uncer
tainty, and for discrepancy between Judgments
Many instructors, therefore, arc strongly opposed 10
the marking system, even while Trey use II on the
ground that IL involves unavoidable injustice TO In
diyiduals placing come above and others below the
position to which their true merits entitle them.
The discussion as to the expedienoy of maintaining,
abolishing modifying what is called the marking
system has been going on in this college, and no
doubt in many others tor years, without having
reached any definite conclusion The distinctive
features of several marking systems are then In
Dictated The system formerly IN use at Columbia
had several faults one of them being that marks for
scholarship and marks for conduct were mixed up;
so that the results furnished criterion of character
either intellectual moral. On this account alone,
Dr. Barnard did not hesitate to condemn 1t at once,
and this feature of it i'm nediately abolished In
March, 1859, the system abandoned altogether,
aud it was resolved that from that time forward
standing in scholarship should be made dependent ex
cusivey the results OF periodical examinations, to
be held semi-annually, and that these examinations
shonld be conducted, wherever possible, in writing.
The several modif cations. all looking toward sim
plicity and fairness next enumerated. Under the
present plan the final order OF merit tor the year
for the is obtained by combining the results OF
all the monthly examinations with those OF the more
general semi-annual examin atoms, giving to these
latter weight equal TO that OF all the preceding
monthly examin ations OF the halt year.
This method works with much less friction thar the
daily marking system formerly in use still there
serious objections to this plan The first is that the
scheme stimulates the ambition TO secure favorable
become possessed of the knowledge by which such |
marks may be fairly wOn Hence the resort TO dis
honest practices, the use OF which has been recently
charged to be general in other institutions well
In this and which, there Can be doubt, is often
attempted, whatever opinion may be entertained as to
the extent OF its success. second objection, more
serious than its failure is its demoraizing effect upon
those who live under it. Whether the fraudulent |
practices, which it is so positively asserted TO
that they exert most deadefHng influence upon The
OF those who are tempted to employ them
The evils spoken of their existence the fact
that examinations in writing. but neither the oral
the written examination seems TO be well adapted
20 secure the result which 1t is the object OF either to
attain VIZ: the arrangement of the members of q
class of competing students in just order OF merit
He recommends simply the distinction into classes OF
the Proficient aud The deficient.
Under the head VI discipline Dr. Barnard refers
with pardolabe pride to the Improvement the
fifteen years and suggests remedy for such disturb
ances as may occur by transferring largely to the
students themselves the responsibility for their own
government The elective studies the recent Lenten
lectures and the centennial of the college are dis
cussed at considerable length. The success Of the
elective system at Columbia has been gratifying to
the students and instructors. The present academic
has marked the close Of the first century since
the corporate body styled The Trustees of Columbia
|
Legislature. 1t therefore thought fitting to
me n,orate event OF 80 much moment by fitting
ceremonial observance Tho exercises in the t
,eption held in the college buildings in the evening,
IRE mentioned. /
" The impression produced upon the public mind by
his demonstration" Continues the President, " as
,vnced by the reports and comments of the PRESS |
md by the spontaneous expressions of great granca
quarter by our own felow-ctiLens and by our dis
guished invited guests from Assistance, have been of
weakened interest in the college general and
more profound than has been elt before besides
evving in the hearts OF alumni OF many years stand
ng-eome OF them with heads quite sivered over-a
lev warmth OF feeling toward Alma Mater not very
mike the glow Of boyhoods time. Upon the whole the
celebration has been success in the fullest sense Of
he term."
After speaking OF the free public lectures which
been given during the year. In the lecture rooms
the Law School, with large attendance DIR. Barnard
avs that the scheme which hitherto had been fe-
ard ed experiment has been too complete and
dmirable success to be abandoned. "ltis desir-
BILE" he adds not only that the system should be
but that should be expanded aud made
rom year to year more and more conspicuous teat
re OF educational scheme. This conclusion ]
orees upon our attention however the unfortunate
act that without any hall OF assembly of such
apacity as the satisfactory conduct of system OF
opular lectures demands. The halls OF the Law :
chools will scarcely accommodate In their perma- a
ent seats than about 300 hearers and though O
hHse have been supplemented by the introduction of
Dr. more than fifty IN addition On some Occasions r
umbers have remained standing through the hour Y
nd the crowds have invaded even the steps Of the a
peakers platform.
The immediate and pressing want Of the college is
heteofe an adequate lecture hall and it is rather
Melancholy reflection that. tw bils this want ia so
bvious and 50 urgent Is impossible tor us to turn
our fellow-ctzens tor help in this exigency with
ny confidence that our appeal will be heard. In this
aspect the case OF Columbia College to be sx-
optional Sister institutions, the right hand and
the left, have during the past twenty years been
ooded With rich gtts their grounds are dotted all ~
yer with buildings bearing the OF their gen
GUS beDefactors; Columbia alone has been hitherto y
'erooked BY the living, and forgotten in their !,
saments by the iibefalmnded capitalists who have Il
used away tr
" NOT very long ago, the president OF OF our Ia
ore fortunate sister institutions, being on visit 10 be
r grounds, pointing to the dapidated edifce bt
iieh twenty years ago, was all there was OF Col ye
alba College, inquired: When are You going 10 81,
ke fhat annr and nnf anunath,n., ho44as - VI